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The story
Chunichi Dragons pitcher Akira Neo took the mound as the third pitcher in a farm-league (minor-league) official game against Kufu Hayate Ventures Shizuoka at Nagoya Stadium on September 19, and got hit hard, allowing 5 hits and 5 runs in just 1 inning. He came in as relief in the 7th inning with an 11-3, eight-run lead, but an infield hit to the leadoff batter combined with his own throwing error put a runner on second with no outs, and a string of hits let in a run. He also failed to record a single out while allowing 7 runs in a Farm-league game against DeNA back on August 11, and the fact that this kind of meltdown recurred in such a short span became a hot topic. On 5ch, comments split between questioning why he’s still being used as a pitcher and lamenting the waste of his background as a first-round pick multiple teams once fought over.
In the Farm-league game against DeNA on August 11, he failed to record even a single out while allowing 7 runs
Chunichi Dragons pitcher Akira Neo got hit hard again. He took the mound as the third pitcher in the Farm League game against Kufu Hayate Ventures Shizuoka held at Nagoya Stadium on September 19. After allowing 5 hits and 5 runs in a single inning, fans reacted with comments like “a cruel reality” and “that’s rough, even against Hayate.”
He entered in the 7th inning with the Dragons leading 11-3. He gave up a comebacker infield hit to the leadoff batter, and his own throwing error to first base compounded the trouble, immediately putting a runner on second with no outs. A single up the middle then loaded first and third. He got the next batter out on a foul fly to third for the first out, but then allowed an RBI single to left to give up a run.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
The coaching staff is just too dumb.
I genuinely don't get why they don't use Neo as a catcher.
Still not done messing around with Neo, huh…
Neo's full-time conversion to pitcher is basically the symbol of that.
(´・ω・`)
A pitcher's ball has that subtle late movement right out of the hand.
Because he can't hit.
They can't move him back to position player on the Dragons — it'd make Tatsunami lose face.
Get a call like this wrong and your whole life can go sideways.
Still better than Kozono.
Shohei Ohtani is just that insanely good.
Exactly.
If they trade him and he breaks out elsewhere, it proves the Dragons' player development is incompetent — that's the dilemma.
They should have him focus on being a position player.
People change careers in every industry — if he's had enough, he can just move on.
Teams won't let a guy go because if he breaks out elsewhere they'll get torn apart for it.
Though honestly, the fans are part of the problem too.
Since the game's already lost, maybe let him go two-way
and check out both sides of his game…
He seems like a serious, hard-working guy, so under someone like Shinjo or Kuwata he might've actually made it big.
He was firing wild pitch after wild pitch in bullpen practice, and coach Asao didn't stop him — just stood there with his arms crossed, watching.
Might've been orders from above like "make him throw X pitches," but I remember thinking right then: this isn't going to work.
Nice car for a guy in his situation lol
at least a trade to change his environment would be for the player's own good.
What exactly is going wrong here?
Been that way since the day he joined.
He can still go to med school later if he wants.
The experience of being a first-round NPB pick (and the signing bonus) matters way more.
Landing with the Dragons was without a doubt the worst possible draw for him.
The Fighters, maybe —
assuming he actually had that kind of hidden upside.
Hard to say.
But I do think he'd have been better off with a team that actually develops its players properly.
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
Akira Neo was a “super high schooler” whose signing rights Chunichi won after multiple teams competed for him in the 2018 draft. He joined as a shortstop and has been converting to pitcher over recent years. This latest outing came in relief in the 7th inning with the score already decided at 11-3, so it wasn’t a situation that directly affected the win or loss — but since he also failed to record a single out while allowing 7 runs in a Farm-league game against DeNA on August 11, the fact that the same result repeated in such a short span is what drove the reaction on the thread. The debate split mainly over whether he should be moved back to a position player: some questioned the team’s handling of him given his sharp instincts and strong arm, while others pointed to development issues, such as him allegedly not listening to advice, with opinions divided over whether to blame the team’s usage policy or the player’s own attitude. There was also speculation that the team can’t let him go because he might “break out” with another club — but this is unconfirmed and should be treated as pure 5ch speculation, not established fact.
*This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Chunichi Dragons’ Akira Neo: “I’m done”… Blows up again in the minors, 5 runs in 1 inning vs. Hayate: “A cruel reality,” “It’s getting hard to watch” [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★].”
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